Renowned composer Lalo Schifrin, who created music for a number of hit Hollywood films and television series, including the unforgettable theme tune for Mission: Impossible, has died at the age of 93, US media reports say.

Born in Argentina, Schifrin combined the influences of his classical education and symphonic training with jazz and modern sounds in his diverse and extensive oeuvre, which includes music for about 100 films, some of which are the most famous of their generation.

His death was confirmed by his son, Ryan Schifrin, to several entertainment magazines.

Schifrin's work for cinema includes "The Cincinnati Kid" (1965) and "Bullitt" (1968), both starring Steve McQueen, "Cool Hand Luke" (1968) with Paul Newman, and "Dirty Harry" (1971) with Clint Eastwood.

He also created the music for the 1960s television series Mission: Impossible, which inspired the theme for the hugely successful film series starring Tom Cruise.

A pipe smoker in his youth and wearing glasses and silver hair in his later years, he was also a highly respected international conductor and jazz pianist.

Boris Claudio Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires on June 21, 1932, into a musical family; his father, Luis Schifrin, was concertmaster of the city's Philharmonic Orchestra for 25 years.

He began studying piano at an early age, developing extensive knowledge of classical music.

He later shared that his introduction to jazz and the American sound in his teenage years—through great musicians such as Charlie Parker, George Gershwin, and Louis Armstrong—was a transformative experience that changed his life.

After studying in Paris, Schifrin returned to Buenos Aires and formed his own big band, whose performances impressed jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie.

"After we finished, Dizzy came up to me and asked, 'Did you write all these scores?

I said, 'Yes.' 'Do you want to come to the United States?' I thought he was joking. But he wasn't," Shifrin said in 2007.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for that moment," he admitted to American radio.

Shifrin moved to the US in 1958 and became an American citizen ten years later.

In Hollywood, television producer Bruce Gelar invited him to write the music for the television series Mission: Impossible (1966) and Mannix (1969).

Geller wanted "a theme that was exciting, promising, but not too heavy" and foreshadowed the action to follow, Schiffrin said in 2015.

Geller dreamed that when "people went into the kitchen to get a Coke, they would hear the melody and say, 'Oh, that's Mission: Impossible,'" he recalled.

The music he created earned Schifrin two Grammy Awards in 1967, adding to the two he had already won for the albums The Cat (1964) and Jazz Suite On The Mass Texts (1965).

Schifrin received several Oscar nominations for his work in films, including Cool Hand Luke.

In 2018, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, presented to him by Eastwood. |BGNES